


The Humbling River

by SandrC



Series: One-Shot Wonders [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Commitment Arc, Gen, I have many feelings about Nadiya "stone cold bitch" Jones, good bois
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 05:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12905472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandrC/pseuds/SandrC
Summary: Nature, nurture heaven and homeSum of all, and by them, drivenTo conquer every mountain shownBut I've never crossed the riverBraved the forests, braved the stoneBraved the icy winds and fireBraved and beat them on my ownYet I'm helpless by the river(Or: Nadiya pretends to be a stone cold bitch but she has feelings—as much as she'd like to deny them.)





	The Humbling River

**Author's Note:**

> This took me longer to finish than it should have but also how bout that Commitment ending?! Oofa doofa man...it was something and, no offense to Clint, but I guess I'm used to shortform media being more...resolved? Idk. Maybe with time I'll feel less...about it but for now I'm just noodling in the sandbox I've been left.
> 
> (And no offense meant whatsoever but the whole King Dick thing seemed...kinda outta left field. Given more time and a format that was more forgiving, I think Clint could've done better when it came to pacing but...not everyone has three years to get the timing down.)
> 
> (Overall I loved it but it left me feeling empty. Like a snickers when you should be eating food. It's just pretend food?? Idk if that came off okay but know that ILY Clint so I mean nothing past gentle criticism? I guess I can't just enjoy shit lmao...)
> 
> Anyway, I'll still play with these bois so expect more from me here lmao.

Nadiya Jones is not a people person. She has better things to do with her time than interact socially with minds that are inferior to her own. So what is it about her two so-called "partners" that keeps her from fucking leaving all this hokey augmented-being bullshit—scientific accolades and discoveries notwithstanding—behind?

To start with, Irene Baker is a social scientist—a pointless and, quite frankly, pathetic doctorate to have earned in the first place, but to flaunt it so lightly as if it held the weight of Nadiya's own three PHDs in practical and applicable sciences is bullshit. She dual-majored in psychology and business practices and can speak almost seven different languages—some of them dead or dying—fluently. She's soft-willed, soft-voiced, and soft-bodied. Her wide, curvy figure is inviting for those that do not know the spring trap hiding beneath it. And while her mind is sharp—honed in humanity and their movement and understanding and emotions—her applications are absolute horseshit. Fucking worthless.

(Never mind Kardalah. That is, in and of itself, it's own bullshit can of worms. Kardalah is a fucking typhoon trapped in a cage made of cotton and string. Her body is a brick shithouse and her mind is a shit brickhouse. A waste of an amazing physique on a completely infantile being.)

And Remy? Fucking Christopher Rembrandt. Lithe and athletically superior to herself—Nadiya is not so proud as to not admit when she was beaten—with a mind that, were it directed properly, would be a storming force in the scientific world. Instead he allows his flighty habits and perpetual attachment to family members and the harrowing joke of a mistake he made on live television drag him into mud and slag, sinking beneath the surface where the tension keeps him stagnant and in place. His anxieties are shackles and he vibrates furiously to escape them but it's pointless when he won't let go of the thirty kilo weight holding him there. He has potential, yes, but wasted so sloppily on a wide, inviting smile, a people-pleased bending over backwards for a laugh after a back handspring, messy natural hair, and jokes that fall flat. A social butterfly with a love for garbage appetizers and a stupid eye for fucking detail that makes her so goddamn mad.

(Christopher—she refuses to use his stupid fucking nickname—makes her see red whenever he speaks. He is so cavalier in situations that require sobriety and terrified when he should be strong. An ass-backwards bullshit human being. An utter enigma. And he refuses to leave her alone.)

Still...Irene is patient and listens to Nadiya when she is called in for some HR violation or another—frankly, they're all claptrap. She doesn't nod and say "yes" in the same way that the career counsellors of Nadiya's high school did, a placation at best and sheer disrespect in pretty garnish. Every time Irene says she understands, Nadiya is inclined to believe her. She wants to believe her.

And it's not as though Irene isn't smart—two PhDs and seven fluent languages speaks for themselves—but the way she can read a person and disassemble them like an armed bomb is alarming and, quite frankly, impressive. Because to Nadiya, people are a foreign concept akin to a virus. Some are benign, others malicious, but they're alien and incurable. You just have to live with them.

Irene's command of the foreign force of humanity via their emotional capacity for empathy and understanding is a superpower in and of itself.

(Not that Nadiya would ever tell Irene that. She has a reputation as "cold-ass science bitch" to uphold and letting any one know that she had any modicum of appreciation for anyone aside from herself would reveal a fatal chink in her armor that would be her Tolkien-esque undoing.)

(Also, heaven forbid anyone know she's read a fantasy novel of her own volition. Tolkien just has a way with worldbuilding that is inspiring and intellectually stimulating. The Simarillion is good, fuck you.)

Also, despite her...reservations towards Christopher, he is a competent man. Foolish, yes, and foolhardy, but he rarely needed more than a few moments of contemplation to figure a problem out. Even debugging issues that bothered most of the R&D department were just Rubix cubes to puzzle to completion. His mind moves as fast—if not faster—than the rest of him does. And, while his lackluster performance in most areas are glaring red error beacons, he does make an attempt and that is admirable at best.

His optimism is to be appreciated, at least, and Nadiya can admit to that. But no one can ever find out. Partially because of the aforementioned "stone cold bitch" status and partially because she doesn't want to deal with him being all smug and even more chummy than usual.

(A little help goes a long way, after all. The hands of the many must join as one to help me cross this river.)


End file.
